1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tray table and, more particularly, to a tray table assembly operably mounted to a chair for use in a health care environment, wherein the tray table assembly is capable of being pivoted into multiple lateral positions conducive to various health care needs.
2. Background of the Invention
Health care chairs have been used in a variety of residential and commercial health care environments and are adapted to provide various comfort and therapeutic features to aid in the care of elderly and physically challenged individuals. Some of these health care chairs are capable of placing the seated occupant in an infinite number of seated positions, while others provide the seated occupant with improved mobility in and around the health care facility. While these health care chairs greatly enhance the comfort and mobility of such elderly and physically challenged individuals, health care chairs have the disadvantage that they may not generally be brought in close proximity to tables or desks. This makes writing, eating, resting, and standard medical procedures such as injecting intravenous medications, removing blood samples, and testing blood pressure, which require a rigid surface in close proximity to the individual, more difficult.
Attempts have been made in the art to provide tray table assemblies capable of being used similar to a conventional table, which are adapted to be mounted to various chair types. However, few of these mountable table assemblies have been developed that are capable of being positioned in numerous lateral orientations. Moreover, fewer of these table assemblies are adapted to enable a seated occupant or care giver to quickly and conveniently mount the table assembly on or demount the table assembly from the chair.
A first known design merely enables a chair-mounted table to be placed in one or two orientations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,575,466, issued to Morton et al., discloses a chair-mounted table adapted to be positioned in front of the seated occupant or vertically stored along side the occupant. U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,114, issued to Miller, merely teaches a table adapted to be positioned in front of the seated occupant or horizontally pivoted to the side of the occupant.
Furthermore, known designs fail to provide a chair-mounted table assembly adapted to be conveniently mounted or demounted from the chair. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,911, issued to Sorenson, teaches a positioning system for a chair-mounted table having a plurality of adjusting features, yet fails to allow a seated occupant to conveniently mount or demount the table assembly from the chair.
Another problem encountered with these known designs is that the conventional forms of chair-mounted tables fail to adequately support an occupant's arm during standard medical procedures, such as those described above. In particular, chair-mounted tables used in the health care industry may be used as a means for supporting the seat occupant's forearm while blood samples are taken. Typically during these procedures, the patient's arm is extended outright or to the side, thereby exposing the patient's forearm. Unfortunately, when using the chair-mounted tables known in the art, the lack of adjustability of the table assembly tends to impede their use.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a simply constructed and easily operated chair-mounted table assembly that is capable of being pivoted into multiple positions conducive to various health care needs. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a chair-mounted table assembly that is capable of being quickly and conveniently mounted and demounted from the health care chair by the seated occupant or care giver.